A Malay Blogger charged for being a threat and insulting Islam

A blogger who was detained under the country’s law and was arrested in September parked condemnation from rights groups is set to free by the Malaysian court.

Raja Petra Kamaruddin, 58, the opposition supporter , was charged for being a threat to security and also for insulting Islam. Especially, in a Muslim country of 27 million people and was imprisoned under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act that allows indefinite detention without trial.

The blogger is due in court later on Friday and will be freed after the court accepted his lawyer’s plea saying his arrest was illegal. Raja Petra’s blog had been a thorn in the side of Malaysia’s government, especially for Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The blogger is also being tried in a separate court on sedition charges for linking Mr Najib, who is going to be the next prime minister next March, to the gruesome murder of a Mongolian model. Altantuya Shaariibuu, the model was shot in the head twice and her body blown up with explosives in a jungle outside the Malaysian capital in October 2006.

Mr Najib denied the blogger’s accusations and termed them ‘total lies’. The issue has not halted his rise to the top of Malaysia’s ruling party and he will be elected unopposed at party polls in March.

The United Malays National Organization (UMNO) leads a coalition that has ruled THE south-east Asian nation for 51 years but which stumbled to its worst ever election result in March when they lost to its two-thirds majority.